Kitchenaid Employs Assholes* (*amusing assholes need not apply)

Kitchenaid is now caught in the middle of PR suicide as it tries desperately to back out of a tweet (above) ‘accidentally’ posted last night after the first Presidential Debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.
The tweet, which is tasteless at best, pokes fun at Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who died on November 2, 2008: just three days before Obama would be elected as the first African-American president of the United States of America.

Although the tweet was quickly deleted after being posted, someone is always on the internet during the few seconds of a fuck up and screenshot-ed the image which is now trending all over the web.

KitchenAid’s Cynthia Soledad, the senior director of KitchenAid’s brand and marketing division, sent an e-mail to several media sites in an attempt to assuage any anger (too late) that might be “misdirected” at Kitchenaid as a whole. The e-mail reads (among other statements):

…which prompts me to ask: Who the HELL is in charge of tweeting for Kitchenaid??

Is one of the requirements being an unfunny, tasteless, giant asshole? (although that image is kinda funny…and repulsive)

On second thought…Who the hell is in charge of hiring the people who tweet for Kitchenaid??

“I see here on your resume that you’re a giant douchebag…perfect!”

What do you think about the tweet, Nation?
Do you think Kitchenaid should be reprimanded for the actions of one of its dim-witted employees or do you feel sorry for the company and only blame the tweeter him/herself?

Comments

I believe its protected under the first amendment! He or She is entitled to say anything whether it leaves them looking like a gigantic douche or not. And attacking said person is one of the underhanded tactics libs use to keep people from using the first amendment. Shame on you for your brand of freedom bashing! And repprimanded for what exactly tweeting his thoughts…. Hmmm didn’t know this was Nazi Germany. Again poor decision on posting this.

I’m pretty sure in Nazi Germany people were saying all kinds of hateful crap and getting away with it. If someone had held Hitler and few thousand other antisemites responsible for their words, then maybe the holocaust could have been prevented. And either way, anyone who has had a public relations job with a large company knows there are things you cannot say at work. You’re representing an entire corporation. People are fired for saying much less damaging and political then what was said here. And whoever it was just lost their job, not their fingers, or their life.

Why do people think that they can just say anything and have it be protected by the first amendment?!? Hey, guess what, when you work for a company you have to abide by their rules, if they say STFU, you STFU, if you don’t like it then you don’t have to work for them! Yes, the person can say whatever they want on their own account, but now that this person has managed to drag Kitchenaid into it, she definitely needs to be fired.

It’s a company website not a personal one. The first amendment shouldn’t apply when you’re being paid to speak for an entire organization. but I guess I’m Canadian, and I don’t know what the First Amendment protects. In Canada we have freedom of expression, which comes with responsibility. You can’t just say things that are hurtful to other parties. Either way, it’s unprofessional, and offensive to thousands of people, besides just Obama. Not something you want to hear from the place you buy blenders.

KitchenAid, as a whole, should not be held responsible for the actions or words of this one employee. The employee is obviously going to be fired for his/her offensive tweet (if he/she hasn’t been already). I hope that the general public doesn’t think the opinions and statements of this one individual represent the entire company. I know that I’m not the only one who doesn’t want a repeat of that Chick-fil-A fiasco we had 2 months ago.